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Monthly Archives: April 2014

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Bright and early this morning I dropped Buddy off at the vet to get neutered and have dental surgery.

“There better be a good reason I didn’t get breakfast.”

The vet tech said they wouldn’t really know the extent of his dental surgery until he was put under and they were able to take xrays. So, I left Buddy in their care while I waited for an update.

“You’re coming back, right?”

A few hours later the vet called and said he would have about 10 teeth removed and that since he’d responded so well to anesthesia to that point they were also going to remove about 4-6 roots from previously broken-off teeth. Once he was out of surgery they called back a second time and said he was doing well and recovering in ICU and there was no reason I couldn’t pick him up at six so I did just that!

At least he has a soft cone!

We’re now back at home (obviously) and he’s doing well. He’s on pain killers and anti-inflammatories and will be on soft food for 4-5 days. We have a re-check in 10 days to get his sutures out and to make sure his mouth is still looking good. Right now he’s sleeping at my feet as we speak and the vet said he should feel back to normal tomorrow.

Given the amount of teeth he had to have removed (in addition to the six he was already missing), he has to have been in pain or at least some discomfort but you really wouldn’t have known because he is such a happy dog. That being said, I’m anxious to see how his personality changes now that he’s not in as much pain and discomfort. For now though, I’m just glad he’s back at home and resting comfortably!

He celebrated by barking in the wee hours of the morning – I guess he wanted to start the party early! That’s an entirely separate issue for another post but we’ve been hitting stretches of 2-3 nights in a row where he feels the need to wake everyone else up at 2 a.m. just because he happens to be awake!

Anyway, it’s been a pretty normal and SOGGY day around here. I ran to PetSmart over lunch to grab more canned food for him (yet another post for another day!) and I couldn’t resist getting a birthday/Easter toy for him – and Lucy because I know too well that bringing home one toy just won’t cut it.

Birthday/Easter toys

These past few weekends have been pretty rough on everyone. Marty and I are in the midst of the spring sports seasons and both of us were out of the house just about all day this past Saturday and Sunday (don’t worry, someone checked on the doggies!). It’s been particularly rough because, until today, the weather had turned absolutely perfect and I felt so badly they were stuck inside all day. Plus our apartment is a disaster, until yesterday we had just about no food and the clutter is piling up to the point where it’s driving me nuts.

Fortunately there are only a few more crazy weekends left (I hope) until our version of summer begins, which means an actual 9-5 job with no work on the weekends! Since I started working in this field eight years ago I’ve lived for the summer months when I get to have normal hours and a normal schedule.

But, back to Buddy! Late last week he was fully cleared for surgery; we got all of his bloodwork back and our vet has everything they need to proceed with surgery which is scheduled for…Monday! At 8:10 Monday morning I’ll be dropping Buddy off to get neutered (poor guy) and to have dental surgery.

Those two surgeries in and of themselves aren’t “major” surgeries (males might disagree) but because of Buddy’s trachea I’m very, very nervous. Now, he has to have the dental surgery. A lot of his teeth are loose (I’m pretty sure one fell out the other day!), abscessed and infected. While his collapsing trachea makes surgery trickier than normal, if he wants to stay healthy for a long time, he must get his teeth fixed. Of all the things we were concerned about with Buddy – his eye, his trachea, etc. – my vet was most concerned with his teeth. Infections can’t be ignored and that’s basically what he has going on inside his mouth!

I’m always nervous about surgery with smooshy-faced dogs because of their already existing breathing problems but I’m particularly nervous about Buddy because of the added issue with the trachea. The good news is the surgery is very early in the day and normally tracheas cause problems shortly after surgery when the trach tube is taken out. He’ll have plenty of care all day after the surgery and if necessary we’ll transport him to an overnight vet for extra observation.

All that being said, it’s his birthday so I’m off to celebrate with Buddy, Lucy and their new toys (the squeakers to which the doggies have definitely found…). 🙂

The first week we brought Buddy home he peed on Lucy’s leg. Now, it wasn’t intentional; he just had a spot he decided he must pee on and Lucy didn’t get out of the way fast enough. The sad part? She didn’t even notice. I was more upset than she was (only because I had to clean up a pee-covered leg; it wasn’t Buddy’s fault!).

Well, late last week Buddy struck again, this time in Lucy’s face.

“What? When you gotta go, you gotta go!”

I swear you would have thought Buddy peed acid on her face given Lucy’s reaction; we were less than halfway through our walk and Lucy spent the rest of the walk finding spots in random yards to roll around in the grass. Then she came back home and literally burrowed herself under her blanket, something she never does on her own (sometimes we wrap her up like a burrito just for kicks). I cleaned her face with baby wipes but for at least two hours she wasn’t her “normal” self (“normal” in quotation marks because she is anything but normal on a good day).

I adore Lucy, but she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. Buddy is a male dog and she has watched him routinely mark on our walks; she just didn’t get out of the way in time!

The good news is things are still going well with Buddy and Lucy.

I’m just waiting on xrays from Buddy’s previous vet (and the xrays on their way!) for my vet to take a look at and make sure his trachea really isn’t bad enough to warrant surgery. I really don’t think it is based on what I’ve observed so far. He is a legitimate speedwalker; I can barely keep up with him at times! His little feet fly around our neighborhood without a single coughing attack! It may take some more monitoring in extreme temperatures but so far it’s more than manageable.

I’m really anxious to get his dental surgery done and not just because his breath is…ripe. It’s because given the condition of his teeth they have to be bothering him but he eats his food just fine and even chews on some of the bones we have laying around the house; I can’t wait to see what he’s like when his teeth aren’t causing him pain anymore.